Drought-free Maha, $1 trn economy main poll planks: Maha CM

October 19, 2019 20:39

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said making the state drought-free and getting its economy past the $1 trillion mark were the main issues he highlighted during the assembly poll campaign which ended on Saturday.

The state polls are scheduled for October 21 and results will be declared on October 24.

Speaking to select group of journalists, Fadnavis claimed the revocation of provisions of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir was not the BJP's main poll plank.

"Since we exposed the Congress on this (Article 370) important issue of national importance, it got prominence. Article 370 was not the main poll plank. Our main agenda is drought-free Maharashtra and achieving $1 trillion economy," Fadnavis said.

He went on to claim the main thrust of his speeches during the campaign were development works carried out by his government as well as plans it had for the next five years.

"For the last few minutes (of the speech), I raised the issue of Article 370 because Kashmir and Maharashtra are part of India. Everyone wants Article 370 to go and the Congress-NCP opposed the move. We expose them through our speeches," he added.

The Maharashtra CM said the public sentiment was high on nationalism and BJP's theme has always been "nationalism and development".

He, however, justified the BJP's emphasis on abrogation of Article 370 and said, "There is nothing wrong with it. The entire nation wanted it to be repealed but the Congress-NCP did not do it and so we exposed them. The Opposition is claiming our stand is wrong because they are on the defensive."

Queried on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's placatory comments on Hindutva icon Veer Svarakar, Fadnavis said, "The former PM tried to do damage control. The necessity of facing polls made the Congress change their stand on Veer Savarkar."

"His (Singh) comments are contrary to what Rahul Gandhi said about Savarkar during the Lok Sabha elections," the CM added. -- PTI

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